Great sound, clarity. Remote control. Cheap!

Not as good as the CFD-S500 (and probably more value-for-money) No eQ presets Remote control has no numbers No backlight on LCD screen Very poor headphone out

The sony CFD-S250 is a simple yet elegant boombox. It delivers above average sound quality (for a boombox of this price-range!) and also has the ability to play CD-R/RW's. I bought his boombox as it was the cheapest I could find with an attached remote control. Whilst this is not as fully functional (e.g. only has basic play, stop etc.) as the remote control on the CFD-S500 it has superior range and does not require direct line of sight. The sound (after listening for about 24 hours) is quite decent, especially in the mid-ranges + clear vocals. The headphone-out is poor though, with a noisy output and overemphasised bass/low mids like all sony headphone outs.

sound and looks

radio reception and tape player

I have had this boombox since July of this year. I bought it because I was looking for something all-inclusive, i.e., with everything in one unit. I had a radio and a separate music system, but the radio on the music system didn't get all the stations I wanted, and it was inconvenient to go from one to the other. I was looking at boomboxes at two stores and I saw this. I brought my CD to listen and liked what I heard. The sound was clear and the unit looked good. Also, I liked that it was complex(both the CD player and the radio work with the same set of buttons). It also had an antenna that could help with radio reception. I have had this for almost two months and it still works very well. The only things I have a problem with are the tape player(the sound is blurry and not easy to hear) and the radio. While the reception is still good, it's not that good all the time. I put the antenna at a certain postion and it works fine, but the next time I turn on the radio I have to twist the antenna again just so I can get the same station. I have twisted the antenna around so much that I am afraid that one of these days I am going to break it. Overall, I think this is a good buy. The CD player is very good and the sound quality is excellent.